I suppose ladies who are concerned about their beauty will have their skin analyzed professionally one time or another. It might be at a department store’s cosmetic counter, at an aesthetic salon, or at a dermatologist’s clinic. How such analyses help your skin is that they will enable the skin care experts to recommend you the right products or treatments for your specific skin type. And obviously, a professional skin analysis by a dermatologist is much more thorough and detailed, compared to the others.

Looks like the monthly beauty box is trending in Asia now because I just received three requests over the last two weeks to review them. This service, which took off in US and is also popular in UK, is apparently building market share right here. For those who do not know, this is a personalized service where a personal beauty box with about five selected products – from skincare to makeup to cult beauty tools – is sent to your doorstep each month for a small subscription fee, ranging from something like S$15 to S$25. The rationale behind such beauty boxes is that they help consumers discover cool beauty products from well-known brands as well as emerging gems without having to pay the full price.

Hey VivaBellas! Do you have a habit of making new year resolutions? And are any of them beauty related? I used to write down my resolutions every year as I enjoyed listing them and checking them off when they are completed. But over the years, I hardly write them down anymore because I realized I didn’t have the conviction to keep them. But I do make beauty related resolutions; even if I don’t list them down, they’re right there in my head!

X’mas is just round the corner and I wanted to get something for a group of ladies I will be meeting on X’mas Day. Because they’re not close friends, I don’t want to get anything out of place. And being a beauty blogger, my first thoughts naturally turned to beauty items. As most of them do not wear makeup, I thought a lip balm might be suitable. But on second thoughts, perhaps I’ll settle for a cake, considering some women won’t even use a lip balm.